Apparently Joubert withdrew, citing abdominal illness and fever, and is flying back to France for treatment. It makes sense...he didn't look too well in the SP and it's not really like him to not do a quad or to double a triple jump; it's a lot more common for him to fall than to do that. It's better for him to rest, recover quickly, and hopefully will be able to compete in TEB, which is in only two weeks.

Machida has a better chance to make it to the GPF now, but there was a 10 point gap btwn him and third place anyways. Just as long as he doesn't bomb the long.

But remember, the judges can award decimal places. Each individual judge can only give out a +2 or +3, and since most of them don't think it deserves a +3, it got a +2. (If I would give a +3 on a 3A, it would be on that crazy entrance Hanyu does.)

I think you meant that the judges can’t award decimal places. Ok, your explanation does make sense and I agree on this.

If I had any gripes, it's that I think he could take some hip-hop classes to work on his hits so that it comes from his core, but that's why he didn't get 8s. Personally, I would only give an 81.5 or so for his performance, but an 83.5 isn't that far off. I'll spare the judges some leeway.

Yes, 81.5 is more accurate, and Machida should take hip-hop classes. Now he tries very hard to move, but he lacks dancing skills. He should also take ballet classes because his interpretaion of Firebird FS is even worse than his SP. I don’t think he deserves 80 on PCS even if he lands all his jumps in the FS.

Originally Posted by Mrs. P

Guess I don't really agree with his interpretation being boring or stiff. The GS folks and I who were at SKAM, for the most part, were pretty impressed with his SP. The audience at SKAM were quite impressed giving him a very generous ovation, probably the best out of the first group he skated in.

Which brings me to another point. At SKAM, he was 4th out of 10 skaters, with some major players Brenzia (2011 SKAM champion), Abbott, Hanyu, Kozuka and Verner in the next group. Here he was 8th out of 9, with the only standout skater being Daisuke and Brian Joubert and to a lesser extent, Rippon and Song. So it certainly makes sense that he would stand out more here and get higher PCS scores.

I think it will be interesting when they're all face to face at Japanese nationals.

Well, I’ve seen Machida skating live more than once and he looked over the top and a little stiff. I remember the audience also felt this way. And the audience at SA clearly preferred Hanyu, Jeremy, and Kozuka more than Machida. But since Machida’s PCS was lower than those three at SA I didn’t have a problem with it.

There’s a big problem when I compare Oda’s PCS with Machida’s PCS, but as you suggested Machida is lucky that he’s competing at a weak CoC while Oda, Kozuka, and Hanyu are assigned to 2 strong competitions. Machida is just very lucky this GP season, but at Japan Nationals his PCS should be lower than Kozuka’s and Oda’s PCS unless the other two bomb big time.

WOW to Tatsuki! Loved the program. Interesting music. He now skates big and with so much confidence. Best performance of the night!

Tatsuki has been taking years off from his college in Osaka (same as Nobu's and Dai's), and moved to California in order to concentrate on skating. So glad his devotion and hard work are paying off. Many congratulations to Tatsuki and his coach Mr. Anthony Liu for winning the very first Grand Prix event!

Can he add a quad to this program, instead of opening 3F-3T? Or, at least, I hope he moves his huge 3A into the second half of the program for more points. Then no complaint from me Tatsuki to join the National team for Worlds this season!

Dai's SP is alright as far as me concerned. Fun music, fun program. Like everyone else, I much prefer last season's though. I would like him to change the color of his jacket. For sure.

First time to see Dai actually add any steps into his 3A! What a nice surprise.
Everyone knew he is the best in doing the crisp and fastest steps effortlessly. But what impressed me this time is he now does step sq with more speed, much flow and ice coverage.